REVIEW/FILM; Derek Jarman's 'Garden' Offers Visions of Decay

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The spirit of "The Garden," Derek Jarman's virtually wordless 90-minute assemblage of turbulent images, is a peculiar blend of reflectiveness and fury. Mr. Jarman, whose 1987 film "The Last of England" had a comparable free-associative vehemence, this time turns his thoughts to AIDS, Christianity and intolerance, combining these themes into a feverish vision of far-reaching decay.

The passion with which Mr. Jarman attempts this is not accompanied by any fondness for clarity, and so "The Garden" is as mystifying as it is intense. While its larger ideas emerge broadly and unmistakably, there is much to ponder -- in, for instance, an image of the Twelve Apostles as 12 women in babushkas, sitting at a table by the seaside as they solemnly run their fingers around the edges of wine glasses to create an ominous hum.

"The Garden," the first of six films in the touring international series the Cutting Edge III (which can be seen at the Film Forum), returns frequently to a bitterly modified biblical motif in which Christ is replaced by two neatly dressed, sweetly smiling gay men. At first these men are seen as innocent lovers, though their bliss is intercut with the anguished cries of a Madonna-like figure whose motivation, like everything else here, is rather too widely open to interpretation.

Later, the two men are harassed and persecuted, at one point even tarred (or chocolated) and feathered by three sinister Santas who sing "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" as they sneeringly inflict pain. Eventually, the two are met en route to their own crucifixion by a tattered Mary Magdalene figure, a transvestite in long gloves and glittering gown.

Mr. Jarman's visual sense easily eclipses his conceptual talents. And "The Garden" has a burning, kaleidoscopic energy to compensate for the facile nature of some of its more unavoidable thoughts. In addition, it has the genuineness and pathos of Mr. Jarman's own situation; as someone who has tested HIV-positive, he reads a moving elegy to lost friends at the film's end, and consistently colors these visions with the shadow of illness. One of the film's more haunting images is that of a man lying in bed at the ocean's edge, as friends raising torches dance in a circle around him.

Mr. Jarman's highly personal vision in "The Garden" also invokes imagery of a nuclear power station and a flower garden, both of which exist more or less in his own backyard. The flowers are used quite hauntingly as evocations of hope and beauty in a landscape that is otherwise so bleak. The Garden Written and directedy by Derek Jarman; photography by Christopher Hughes and Mr. Jarman; edited by Peter Cartwright; music by Simon Fisher Turner; produced by James MacKay; production company, Basilisk, Channel Four, British Screen, ZDF, Uplink. At Film Forum 1, 209 West Houston Street. Running time: 90 minutes. This film has no rating. WITH: Tilda Swinton, Johnny Mills, Philip MacDonald, Roger Cook, Kevin Collins, Pete Lee-Wilson, Spencer Lee and Jody Graber

A version of this review appears in print on January 17, 1991, on Page C00016 of the National edition with the headline: REVIEW/FILM; Derek Jarman's 'Garden' Offers Visions of Decay. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe